talkmagic.co.uk

Author - David Britland
Price - about £95 - £110 (when I bought it)
Bought - Jim Steinmeyer web site

I'm not sure why I bought this book. Though I'd heard of David Berglas, it wasn't a name that I was as familiar with as, say Paul Daniels or Ali Bongo ( going back a bit now eh?). However, it promised to be a collectionof some great routines alongside a historical narrative of his life so I thought "should be worth a good read"

The book itself is beautifully produced and would take pride of place on any book collector's shelf (magic afficianado or not). Even more so now as only 1000 copies were produced and it's a bit of a collectors item already apparently.

Binding is excellent and the paper used is lovely. As for the content....

Mixing biographical information and some of his well-known illusions and routines this is great material. One of Berglas' famous PR routines was a blindfold drive that seemed impossible to perform. In fact, reading the explanation of this stunt it seems even more astonishing for the sheer brilliance and ingenuity of the method behind it.

A long and in-depth explanation is also given of David's method of predicting an object that a spectator will freely choose from a number of objects placed on a table. What's particularly revealing about this is not so much the method but the way that David executes it that makes the prediction seem even more impossible. Even though I now know "how it's done" I think I would still believe it to be a random selection if I were witness to it.

There's a ton of stuff in this and though some of it has dated in the presentation, I think the ideas would still easily impress a modern audience.

Superb!

and i think you will find that it has more than doubled in value since you bought it.

You're right there. This book goes for serious money if any of the usual sales sites are anything to go by.

I must say I'm seriously tempted but the value of the material within outweighs my desire to sell it....well so far anyway.

Comforting to know though that not everything you buy these days plummets in value!

I bought the book and consider it to be excellent value! Even looking at it basically, it's three times the size of your average book so at £90 (what I got it for 4 years ago(they were going for about £150 back then)) I saw it as a good deal. But you've got his life in there which is incredibly interesting and all the effects. I'm no mentalist, so you might say why the hell did I buy it, but I agree and see it as a worthy purchase.
What a great mind, I mean stopping time in Times Square (was it?) amazing stuff. Well worth it.

If either of you (or any else) would like to sell your copy, let me know